


Meaningful Moments -Medic-

by Nik_Knight



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Music, Sickfic, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:42:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21867700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nik_Knight/pseuds/Nik_Knight
Summary: After a solo mission at Coldfront, Hacker finds herself sick with a bad case of the flu. Medic does his best to take care of her, but ends up discovering that she's terribly shaken by something. Despite his lacking bedside manner, Medic decides that the best treatment is to spend some quality time together.
Relationships: Medic & Hacker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Meaningful Moments -Medic-

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was edited and fixed up by my pall Kitty. Thanks Kitty! Enjoy the sickfic of the Sick Nik.

Meaningful Moments -Medic-

It wasn’t all too late, but it was late enough for any little girl with influenza to be in bed.

That’s why the Medic huffed an irritated sigh at seeing the Hacker standing in the middle of the infirmary after lights out.

She'd only been at Coldfront for a week doing... whatever it was the Administrator tasked her with. It was a solo mission, yet after only two days of being back at Mannworks, she fell terribly ill with the flu. She'd only managed to hide her illness for a few hours before he had to carry her into the infirmary himself.

She was now turned away from him, shrouded in her white blanket that was festively decorated with Jack-O-Lanterns. He couldn’t quite make out her whole form in the dark, but he could certainly tell that she wasn’t in her designated infirmary bed.

Vexed, he marched to give her a stern warning and send her to bed again. Making sure his foot falls were loud enough to hear, he stood behind her and crossed his arms. A soft, silent moment passed, but she didn’t turn around as quickly as he expected. Another few seconds passed, and a single sniffle sounded from her. Slowly, her bare feet padded against the linoleum, and she turned to face him. Ludwig took a startled step back, unfolding his arms.

Nik Knight was indeed still very ill. Her skin was pale, and her eyes looked almost sunken in with the dark circles underneath them. Her raven hair rested on her head messily and made her look even more ghastly.

Besides the sickly look, Ludwig was also disturbed by a foul, acrid sent. Looking down, he saw that the poor girl had vomited all over herself, staining her hospital gown. She had tears in her eyes and seemed the perfect image of a sad, lost child. Flecks of blood in the vomit showed evidence of hematemesis.

Something was very wrong.

The Hacker’s eyes were dilated, breaths quick and uneven, her whole body softly trembling. More importantly, however, what little of her irises shown were colored crimson. This was generally not a good thing when it came to the Hacker--it usually resulted in someone getting injured. He’d have to act carefully. Calmly.

“Frau Hacker...? Are you all right?” He asked, trying to not to make any sudden movements. She looked up into his eyes as if really seeing him in front of her for the first time. Her eyes got even wider as she stared at him, and she looked as if she was about to dart.

Medic moved quickly despite his earlier thoughts against it and gently grabbed the sides of her face. “Nien, nien, shhh-hhh-hhh... it’s okay, it’s just me, your medic,” he assured her, still cupping her cheeks. She trembled in his grasp but didn’t move. Slowly, her pupils receded to a more normal size and her irises began to return to their normal, honey brown color. Her breathing, however, was still erratic.

“L... Lu...” She began, voice quivering a bit. Ludwig nodded and gently rubbed his thumbs against her cheeks to sooth her.

“Ja, it’s me. What happened, kinder?”

“...Nightmares,” she whispered. Ludwig slowly let her go and placed a comforting hand on her back to lead her back to the infirmary bed.

“I see... you also seemed to have vomited on yourself. I doubt the nightmares did that, but it’s possible. Here, let me help.” He pulled the curtain around the bed and helped her into a new infirmary gown. She didn’t seem to mind him as he helped undress her.

“I don’t remember doing that... where am I?” She looked around the area before noticing the curtain. She still seemed a bit out of it as well, and still very ill. Even her voice was a bit raspier than normal.

“In the infirmary on base. Mannworks, England. Don’t worry, you’re safe.”

“Where’s... where’s Spy?” She was still staring at the curtain. There were rumors that the Hacker had taken Spy on as a father figure as the Scout had (moreso Scout because he was Spy’s actual son.). With each visit to the infirmary, the rumor seemed truer to the doctor.

“Hm. I’m guessing he is in his smoking room, but who knows with him.” He shrugged and helped pull her arms through the new gown. “There, all better, ja?”

“I don’t feel good,” she sighed.

“You have the flu. You won’t feel well for a few days.” He pushed open the curtain and began shuffling through one of his many medicine cabinets until he found the bottle he was looking for. He poured two pills into his hand and gave them to the girl, then set off to get a glass of water for her. “This will help reduce your fever as well as help you rest comfortably.” He passed her the glass of water.

She sat there with the pills and the water. She looked downright miserable as she looked up at him, frowning tiredly.

“Well?” Ludwig asked.

“I don’t feel good,” she repeated.

Ludwig choked on a startled laugh, self-restraint loose and flimsy from exhaustion. He covered his mouth, snickering, rubbing his face and wanting very desperately to find it within himself to be annoyed. "Hacker, I told you--"

“No,” she said flatly and shook her head. Without another word she took the medication and downed about half of the water. Ludwig watched as she mechanically swung her legs back into bed and pulled up the covers up to her chin. Her eyes were dull, and a small frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. Ludwig stopped laughing. He understood.

She was still scared.

The good doctor wasn’t exactly known for his bedside manner, nor was he known for having any compassion or a soul (Although he had plenty of the latter). However, he learned over the past few months that he had accidentally allowed himself to develop feelings for his teammates. His relationship with Heavy and the BLU Medic was solid proof of that fact.

So, when he found it impossible to look at the poor hacker’s miserable face any longer, he sighed and left through the curtain to grab something. He went to his desk and popped open an old chest he stowed beneath it. Most of its contents were old documents or trinkets he picked up over the years, but at the bottom there lay an old, hard leather case, and he pulled it out.

He stepped back into the Hacker’s make-shift room and sat at the end of her bed, resting the case against her legs. He unbuckled the latches on the side and pulled out an old Stradivarius violin.

“My dad plays a violin,” the Hacker added while watching the German rosin the bow. “He played it lots when I was a kid.”

“I wasn’t aware you had family,” Ludwig noted, glancing at her from the chin rest as he got into a playing position. “Any requests?”

Nik gave a small, sick smile and nodded. “Danse Macabre. Camille Saint-Saëns.”

“I do know a bit of it, but I’m not sure I can do the whole piece.”

“Any bit would be nice to hear.” She got more comfortable in her bed by wiggling a bit.

“I will try, then,” he said, then took the bow to the strings and played.

The piece was seven minutes long and started sharply, briskly. It was quite the aggressive piece. He was looking to soothe the Hacker, but instead found himself forced to fumble with the strings, tune the instrument just so, struggle to remember how to play. It'd been years since he dug up the violin from the bottom of his chest, and he was nervous that the strings were liable to snap at any given moment.

But they didn't. And soon, he began to get comfortable, easing his way into the song, shutting his eyes as the bow flew against the strings and his ungloved fingers blistered against the neck of the violin. The strings screeched and moaned into the open infirmary. It wasn't the most pleasant sound.

Then, a few minutes in, the doctor noticed that he wasn’t quite... controlling the song. More like the other way around. His hands moved naturally with the instrument, but the movements felt unlike his. It felt ghostlike. As if some unseen force was controlling the movements of his fingers and his bow with the grace of a professional.

He glanced to the girl to see if she recognized the oddity. However, she was staring tiredly above him as if someone else was in the room. Glancing away, he saw no one, and played onward.

Eventually the end of the piece came, and the somber finishing notes seemed to lull the girl to sleep. Finally, Ludwig’s hands seemed his own again. He didn’t even believe he would remember the full song, yet he didn’t miss a single note. He wasn’t quite frightened, but felt it was more than a little odd.

Quickly and quietly, he packed up his violin and put back where he'd taken it out. The room was slightly colder than it seemed just a few minutes ago. After some thought, Ludwig figured he must've been overworked and imagining things, for the infirmary had a haunting feeling he wasn’t familiar with. Instead of lingering further, he went to find the company of Hans and Misha elsewhere in the building.


End file.
